Gainsborough’s House

Gainsborough’s House explores the life and art of Thomas Gainsborough. One of the greatest artists of his age, he is renowned throughout the world for his portrait and landscape paintings.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) was born in Sudbury. He lived here until around 1740 when, as a young teenager, he was sent to London to pursue a career as an artist. He returned to Sudbury in the spring of 1749 until 1752 when he painted his celebrated ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’.

In 1958 Gainsborough’s House Society was formed to purchase the house and establish it as a centre for Thomas Gainsborough. The museum opened to the public in 1961 and continues to share the life and work of Thomas Gainsborough today. In 2019, the Gainsborough’s House Society received an investment of £10m to upgrade and ‘revive the artist’s birthplace’. On 21 November 2022, the museum re-opened to the public after a transformational refurbishment. The museum is the international centre for Thomas Gainsborough and is now the largest gallery in Suffolk.

Visitors can view the family house, the new gallery spaces, examples of Gainsborough’s work, alongside specialist exhibitions and the famed crinkle-crankle walled garden with Mulberry Tree dating to the early 1600s. The space also has a cafe and gift shop for visitors.

For additional information about admission, opening hours, access, facilities and learning opportunities, please visit the museum’s website

Photographs credit: © Hufton + Crow